Neopets

The avatars roaming many online virtual communities may be cartoonish and their activities inconsequential, but the recent sale of Club Penguin to Disney for $350 million (with $350 million in earn out) demonstrates that the business of casual immersive worlds, or virtual hangouts, is not entirely child’s play.
Virtual hangouts are where people can engage each other using imaginary… Read More

close enough
Apparently ever since the Viacom acquisition of Neopets in 2005, a series of pay-to-play services have been announced on the site effectively breaking the “always free” promise. Ever since, a group of disgruntled prepubescent Neopians have started to spam the site and bombard the company phone lines in a move similar to that of Digg. Based on the rants of a few… Read More